Burning Your Lies (King and Queen Duet #2)

1

Savannah

I am going to die. He is going to kill me.

I try not to think it, but the longer I stare down at the evil in his eyes the harder it is to ignore. I hold my head up high, no matter how much I want to fall to the floor and sob.

“What are you going to do to me, Xavier? We both know you’re not letting me walk out of here.”

When he speaks, it’s with confidence.

“Yes, I am. We had a deal, remember?”

I watch, frozen, as he gracefully stands up and makes his way back to his side of the table. The reassured smile on his face makes my stomach churn. Fear has the hairs on my skin spiking up.

His marbled eyes fixate on my terrified ones.

“Are you going to tell me where my daughter is?”

My heart pounds in my chest, trying to make sense of something I can’t understand. Xavier heard my conversation with Huxley because he bugged Elise’s pushchair. Xavier saw me pack my bags through the cameras. Xavier agreed to my terms, even though he knows where his daughter is. So, why is he sat there so calmly, playing along?

“Why are we playing this game? You’ve known where she is this whole time.”

Amusement dances on his features as he makes a move on the chessboard.

“If I move this piece, what happens?”

I don’t look at the chessboard.

“What are you waiting for?”

His laugh crawls over my skin before wrapping around my neck and choking me.

“It doesn’t matter which move you make, you lose. I’ve got you cornered.”

The only sound over my heavy breathing is the clock. Knowing I need to get out of here, I stand up.

“You’re buying time.”

His eyebrows furrow.

“What was it you said to Ray?”

He doesn’t let me answer.

“We are not God. We cannot decide who lives or dies. We are not mercenaries of death.”

No matter how fast I blink, the tears brim in my eyes. I was a fool to walk into his trap. Despite what he says, I’m not walking out of here alive. And then what happens to my mum and Elise? I stare at the clock once again, trying to figure out what he’s waiting for.

“What are you going to do to me?”

It’s as if he never heard me.

“I decide who lives and dies. I am the game maker. You were right. I am not God. I am much larger than a deity who does not exist. I am here, on Earth, where the world can see me. I’ve chosen to protect lives with these hands. These hands have also taken lives. I am Xavier Rivers, and tonight, I will create your fate.”

My sob is caught in my throat when a faint headlight appears at the end of the driveway. Huxley. Hope jumps into my heart but quickly fades when I see the look of victory in him.

“Who is that?”

Xavier stands and takes a predatory step towards me. The mocking grin on his face makes my tears burn.

“You made it so easy for me, Savannah. You inspired my final move. All those days and nights, sitting up alone in the room. You became a recluse. You stopped eating and sleeping. You had a mental breakdown after giving birth. You threw crazy accusations of murder. You reduced your digital footprint because you were convinced somebody was following you. You asked Ray to strip naked because you thought someone bugged your clothes. You asked Mia to keep a baby hostage.”

I step away from him, needing the space to think and breathe. My voice comes out with more conviction than I’m feeling.

“I’m not crazy.”

The life drains out his face and I’m looking at an empty shell.

“But you made it so easy for me to convince everyone else you were. I simply watered the seeds you planted.”

“A medical professional will see through it.”

I don’t know if I’m trying to convince him or myself.

“Not when the people who love you will testify to your erratic behaviour. It’s in your genes. A traumatic experience can trigger symptoms, and you’ve had your fair share of trauma.”

“Because of you!”

The mocking sympathy almost looks believable.

“You need help, Savannah. You’re not well.”

My lips curl into a snarl.

“You’re the one that needs help! I’m going to tell them everything!”

“Go ahead. They won’t find anything. Every secret you discovered, I buried even deeper.”

“I’ll dig it up myself! I’ll bury you in the truth.”

“You lost, Savannah. You can either tell them and prove how crazy you are with your conspiracies of a CEO committing murder and stalking you, or you can stay silent and spend the rest of your life in a care home for the crazy.”

He’s right; it doesn’t matter I do, I’ll just be the crazy woman who got her mother’s genes.

This time I can’t stop it. My chest caves and I let out a sob.

“You said you would let me go.”

“No. I said I wouldn’t kill you.”

There must be an escape. There has to be some way to prove he set this up.

And then it hits me.

“The cameras.”

There’s no panic as I expected. Instead, he looks smug.

“I stole a move from Emery. Can you guess which one?”

Running towards the light switch, I flick it on and off, but the only light that remains is the stupid candles I lit. With a crumbled resolve, I say, “The breaker.”

“A smart move by my conniving wife.”

I go back to that night; the one where Emery told me to run while I can. I should have listened. I should have packed my shit and got the fuck out of here. I can see Emery stood in the dark shadows of the room, begging me to think faster, harder and smarter. And then suddenly I’m laughing.

“The generators turn on within ten minutes.”

His nostrils flare.

“If there were generators, don’t you think I would have seen you weren’t in the guesthouse? Do you think of me as a moron? An idiot? A fool? There’s no proof of anything.”

He thought of everything. Any route I had to escape is blocked by him.

As he stands there and watches me, I feel nothing but hatred. I want him dead. My feet have a mind of their own, because before I can blink, my hands are around his neck. If I’m going down, I’m taking him with me.

“I’m going to kill you! I’m going to kill you!”

My screams are incoherent as I’m pulled off him. I can’t hear what they’re saying over the chaos in my head.

Xavier’s pathetic pleas burn through it all.

“Tell me where she is, Savannah! Tell me where my daughter is!”

“He set me up! He did all this!”

Unlike before, when he steps towards me, it’s with caution. His eyes fill with crocodile tears.

“You tried to steal my baby. Where is she? Please?”

I don’t hear what the doctor says to him. I can only concentrate on breaking free from their tight grip. No matter how much I scream for them to believe me, they’re more concerned about him. When one of them loosens their grip for a second, I take my chance and charge at him.

“You did this!”

My fists barely touch him before I am being forced out of the house. As they lead me to the awaiting car, all I can think about is how stupid I was to think I could beat him. This was all my fault. I brought this upon myself by signing that contract, despite knowing better. I did this to myself, when I felt the camera in the wall and believed him. I did this to myself when I climbed into bed with him. I did this to myself when I accepted his fucking diamonds.

At that thought, my fingers grip the necklace he gave when he promised a future. I yank it until it breaks loose. As if it was a noose around my neck, my throat opens and I gulp in the cold air. And for just a moment, it feels like I am alive. I survived.

But I am dead. Perhaps Xavier didn’t physically kill me, but he killed every other part of me.

I don’t move when he pulls me close to him. The arms I once found comfort and love in feel like my coffin; confining my corpse with a promise of no escape. His voice is so low, I can barely hear it over the wind.

“Zugzwang.”

I stare out the window for the entire drive. One doctor sits in the back with me and keeps her eyes trained on me. I mindlessly walk wherever they pull me, because it doesn’t matter. I lost. After everything I sacrificed, I still lost.

They hand me a tablet with the promise that it will help me sleep. They watch me take it. Then I am all alone in the cold, empty room.

In the silence, all I can hear is Xavier’s whisper of victory. And just before the drugs kick in, I realise I am truly his prisoner.